Social & Environmental Issues

The social & environmental issues section discusses how motor vehicles are a significant source of air pollutants that cause smog and unhealthy air conditions. This air pollution causes asthma, cancer, heart disease, birth defects, and brain damage. In addition, these vehicles emit close to one-third of the country’s total annual carbon dioxide emissions. By consuming vast amounts of petroleum fuel, motor vehicles reduce U.S. energy security.

Best Practices

In the best practices section, we discuss how fleet managers can reduce the negative human and environmental impacts of vehicles through trip planning and reduction, improved maintenance and operation of conventional vehicles, use of fuel-efficient vehicles, and replacement of gasoline and diesel with clean, low-carbon alternatives. Practices such as maintaining proper tire pressure and changing oil and filters are standard and should occur on a regular basis. Other practices, such as purchasing vehicles painted in light rather than dark colors to reduce air conditioning needs in summertime, are one-time decisions that require forward planning.

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Cost, Quality & Supply

After implementing trip planning and vehicle efficiency measures, fleet purchasers can look for new vehicles and fuels to add to the fleet. The cost, quality & supply section discusses issues that should be considered when making vehicle and fuel procurement decisions. The vehicle market is dominated by traditional gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles and there is usually substantial variation in environmental performance even between the best and worst conventional vehicles in a class. In addition, a range of technologies (e.g., hybrid-electric vehicles) and fuels (e.g., ethanol, biodiesel, and compressed natural gas) are becoming increasingly available and price competitive.

Policies

The policies section highlights various government agencies, educational institutions, and businesses that have already implemented responsible fleet policies. These policies typically require the use of particular fuels, such as CNG, E85 and biodiesel; vehicles, such as hybrids and flex-fuel; and maintenance and management practices such as maintaining proper tire pressure, limiting vehicle idling time, and trip-planning to reduce mileage.

Specifications

The specifications section provides examples of bid contracts and RFPs for responsible vehicles and fuels. Flex-fuel cars, trucks, SUVs, and vans are now being specified in large quantities, especially by federal and state government agencies required to do so by EPAct 2005. Similarly, over 200 fleets now have contracts with specifications for hybrid vehicles. In recognition of the fuel economy and emissions benefits of compressed natural gas (CNG), many centrally-fueled fleets are also specifying for CNG vehicles in their purchase contracts.

Standards

The standards section discusses certifications that can be used to improve the social and environmental profile of a vehicle fleet. Emissions from most vehicles are determined by federal government standards. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) emission standard designates gasoline vehicles that have fewer emissions than most vehicles sold with the federal government’s standard. Other standards relate to the quality of alternative fuels (e.g., ethanol, biodiesel, natural gas) that a fleet may purchase directly from a fuel producer for dispensing at a central fleet-owned pump.